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Tuesday, January 27, 2015

A Christmas post and a half

I've decided that I quite fancy doing a bit of a Christmas wrap up. I know it's nearly February, but I also know how much I enjoy looking back on the memories.

So. Christmas!

This year was the first year that I had a beach Christmas. We spent a couple of weeks at the beach and to be honest, the whole Christmas holiday was a bit... interesting. Some of it was great, and other parts, not so much. I think Shane and I both came away deciding we will never try to have our 'holidays' over Christmas again. It's just so busy! We went to Noosa, which is probably one of the busiest beach destinations for Christmas in Queensland. But aside from that, it's also hard to lose so many of your precious holiday days with all the assorted Christmas hoopla. We are not really crazy shopping, busy-doing holiday people. Our idea of a nice holiday is a chance to properly unwind, and we didn't really get that. But, oh well, you live and you learn!

In saying that, some of the good times of the holiday were pretty great. Christmas day was spent with some of Shane's extended family. And Shane and I did manage to sneak away for a lovely Christmas Eve service at Hillsong Noosa. Very very, not what we are used to, but good all the same. Christmas day was spent opening so many presents (So early! Our kids were up at 4:30 am!).

So many presents!

Look at that tired face!

After the madness that was present opening, we all headed up to Shane's Aunty's house in the Noosa hinterland. Her house was all kinds of amazing, and one of the nicest parts of the day was the fact that the kids spent hours in the pool. It was a really fun time, especially because so many of the adults got in the water with the kids, and that always makes things so much more fun doesn't it? I remember how much I used to love it when my parents and Aunties and Uncles would swim with us when I was a kid, and I want to make sure I have fun with my kids. I think we did this Christmas, anyway!

All tuckered out

A few days after Christmas we headed inland to my sister's house to have our Christmas with my side of the family. That was a good day. I really like my family.

It's a bit funny. The dynamics in my family have really changed a lot recently. I am one of four girls, and I just love it. It's so nice, but I've realized it's only as nice as you make it. For a while in our adult lives, we all lived in the same town. Which was so great, and made family relationships so easy. But sometimes it made them too easy, if that makes sense? It enabled us to be lazy with our relationships and take them for granted, because it was so simple and easy to see one another all the time. A couple of years ago, my sister Jenny moved away with her family, and now my sister Cathy has moved away too. And unless the effort is put into sustaining those relationships and making them a priority... we simply won't be as close as we once were. I don't want that to happen, so it's something I'm going to try to be mindful of in the future.

Our trip to see my family was a bit of comedy of errors. On the way inland it was pouring down rain, and while Shane was driving we lost a windscreen wiper. We ended up stopping at the next little town, and thanks to the magic of Google, managed to find a replacement wiper without too much hassle. Then, after we left my sister's house in the afternoon, we got a call from and realised we'd left Shane's laptop and my kindle at her house. But it ended up being a really good thing, we turned back to pick them up. and met everyone at a lovely park, and had so much fun on a giant flying fox there.

We took the kids to Underwater world with Shane's parents, and cousin Cassi, and the kids really enjoyed that.

There was also one morning when Shane and I took the kids for a bushwalk up to a lookout, which was pretty amazing. The walk was only a kilometre, but it was uphill all the way, and was plenty long enough for little legs!

It really made me look forward to doing that kind of thing when the kids are older though. So beautiful!

Probably one of my favourite days, was the day we spent with my sister Cathy, and my nieces Isabel and Rachel. We took Charlie on a go kart ride for his Birthday, and then we went to an amusement park. The kids had an absolute ball on all the rides. It was a really good day.

We celebrated Charlie's birthday with a cake that Charlie loved. It was only a Woolworth's cake that I repurposed to turn into an accident site. But he was really taken with it.

My baby is three!!

I think doing the birthday cake thing has to be one of those real defining parenting moments. It is good.

Goodness this has been a doozy of a post! Well done you if you made it to the bottom!

It was a very busy holiday. But I think we made a few really good memories.